Jonell Jacobson

Emma Isaacs Jonell Jacobson

Quirky tale of a girl who thinks she comes from dust, has some anger issues, loves the boy next door, and ends up one step from holiness in a reckoning between what is given, and what one creates. The story builds out of a childhood encounter with centenarian pitcher Mordecai 'Three Finger' Brown, the sole living survivor of the last world champion 1908 Chicago Cubs. He seems to think she is the long awaited 'It', a chosen hurler who will smash the one-hundred year Cub hex. However, young Emma already is 'It'. A peculiar It. She lives in a small rural California world of exploitation and ignorance flanking an endless orange grove full of adventure and myth. As an accomplished thrower of blistering objects for great effectiveness, Emma can throw behind her back, between her legs, blindfolded, and with either arm. An ambidextrous pitcher is rare, and one with a dash of mind control at high velocity is a unicorn. Baseballs eventually replace citrus as the throwing object of choice, but her acquired antics bedevil her along an absurdly, if not raucous, climb through a gender specific sport. It is her love for the boy that fuels the ambition, while her reservoir of talent becomes low fruit for abuse. Soon marketed as the 'She Beast, Emma perseveres beyond disrespect and calamity to indeed fulfill the centenarian's prophecy of signing with the Chicago Cubs. Baseball provides the refuge, love propels the journey.